Garska v. McCoy

Neely, Justice:

The appellant, Gwendolyn McCoy, appeals from an order of the Circuit Court of Logan County which gave the custody of her son, Jonathan Conway McCoy, to the appellee, Michael Garska, the natural father. While in many regards this is a confusing case procedurally, since the mother and father were never married, nonetheless it squarely presents the issue of the proper interaction between the 1980 legislative amendment to W. Va. Code, 48-2-15 [1980] which eliminates any gender based presumption in awarding custody and our case of J.B. v. A.B., 161 W.Va. 332, 242 S.E.2d 248 (1978)…